California Air Resources Board

Background

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) hosted a public Truck Regulation Implementation Group (TRIG) meeting to discuss infrastructure aspects of the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation (ACF). This was the fourth meeting of the Infrastructure TRIG.

Presentations

This meeting focused on reliability and networking requirements for public and private charging infrastructure and use cases for meeting these requirements. The following presentations were given.

• Overview of Charger Reliability Regulations & Charger Networking Use Cases, Jeffery Lu, California Energy Commission (CEC).
• Public fast charging infrastructure for trucking fleets, Sam Versalloti, Terawatt
• Reliable low-cost charging infrastructure without networking, Matt Zerrega, TerraVerde

The above presentations and a recording of these presentations and follow up discussion may be found in the Advanced Clean Fleets Meetings & Events page.

Clarifying Questions and Panel Discussion

Questions relating to the Charger Reliability Regulations

Q: Would the draft regulation apply to private and shared facilities as well?

A: The regulation does not distinguish between publicly available chargers and private access chargers. The bulk of the reliability and reporting requirements apply only to chargers that are ratepayer or publicly funded. For chargers that are neither state or ratepayer funded there may be some inventory reporting requirements, but reliability and other reporting requirements do not apply.

Q: What is the public process for this proceeding? When will the final draft be available?

A: Earlier, CEC held 2 public workshops on the draft regulations and the comment period for those has since closed. The current version of the regulation is the second draft (see link below). The final version of the regulation should be published in early 2025 starting a 45-day public comment period.
Link to the current draft regulations: Tracking and Improving Reliability of California’s Electric Vehicle Chargers: Regulations for Improved Electric Vehicle Charger Recordkeeping and Reporting, Reliability, and Data Sharing - California Energy Commission
CEC workshop slides on the proposed Regulation: https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=255946&DocumentContentId=91772
Sign up for the listserve to get updates on the reliability regulations: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/CNRA/signup/31719 and select the "Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Reliability Reporting and Performance Standards" topic.

Q: What do fleets need to be thinking about regarding connector standards?

A: With regards to projects funded by CEC, there are minimum connector requirements that have focused on J1772 and CCS1 for medium-duty vehicles. CEC will likely have some updated policies in the near future that might allow funding for other connectors to be used, such as the J3400 connector. CEC welcomes truck manufacturer input on whether it is in their best interest to continue with CCS1 for medium/heavy-duty vehicles or switch to the NACS standard. Charging and connector standards for megawatt charging (MCS) are still under development. Once there is greater confidence behind building MCS charging systems that are consistent across brands, CEC would consider allowing funding for MCS chargers.

Q: How do battery electric vehicle manufacturers, charging station manufacturers, and Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) software developers overcome the challenges of power interruptions?

A: The federal Joint Office of Energy and Transportation is working with national labs on potential modifications to the communication standard between the electric vehicle and the charger to have an automatic restart in case of a power outage during a charging session. This would allow it to resume charging, regardless of whether it’s due to a power interruption or another problem.

Q: Where does CEC land on driver self-reporting in the reliability regulation, especially in the context of non-networked chargers? Is there a mechanism for drivers to self-report problems to inform reliability data reporting?

A: The CEC's pending charger reliability regulation does not propose any mechanism for drivers to self-report problems with chargers. The regulation does propose new data collection from charging station operators and charging network providers, including automated reporting of certain reliability-related OCPP messages for publicly- and ratepayer-funded networked chargers.

Questions for Terawatt DC Fast Charging Infrastructure

Q: Will it be possible to eventually have interoperability amongst the different charging providers so that an OEM truck could charge at any charging station?

A: It may be challenging between the different public charging network operators to have that communication between the different networks. For Terawatt, it will be important for customers to be in Terawatt’s reservation system to ensure that a charger will be available when you arrive.

Q: Some fleets have expressed concerns about the reliability of current public charging infrastructure. How is Terawatt addressing reliability issues?

A: Terawatt’s business model is based on taking concerns about charging away from the fleet or operator. High reliability and uptime are key to this business model.

Q: What is Terawatt’s approach to meeting interoperability standards and serving trucks from different OEMs?

A: Currently, OCPP 2.0.1 is the “gold standard” in terms of networked charger interoperability. Terawatt is also using the latest technology in Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) which allows for roaming between networks. Regarding working with costumers, Terawatt is closely partnered with OEMs and is working with customers who have different types of trucks.

Q: What is Terawatt’s model in terms of cost and access?

A: In terms of cost, Terawatt encourages customers to reach out so they can inform them on how contracts are structured, pricing schedules, and show them how charging sessions work and how to operate the chargers. When there is a problem at a charger site, Terawatt has in-house technicians who can check on the infrastructure and initiate repairs.

Q: Does having network chargers improve Terawatt’s business model? Or would you say that the cost of the networking imposes a risk to the business?

A: Network chargers are key to Terawatt’s business model as a service provider, but in private-only cases network chargers may not be necessary.

Q: What are Terawatt’s plans regarding interoperability and connector standards?

A: In the heavy-duty space it would be predominantly CCS1. Once there is an approved megawatt charging standard, it would be MCS.

Q: How does Terawatt make sure that its site has all of the power that it needs when the trucks get there? And what do you think it would take to replicate this elsewhere?

A: Terawatt is using mobile power solutions such as batteries for reserve power to avoid really high demand charges or provide power during a grid interruption. In terms of replicability, that’s something where we will have to sort of learn as we go.

Questions for TerraVerde Energy – Non-Networked Charging Infrastructure

Q: Are you aware of any companies that offer the tokenization payment method as an off-the-shelf component that you as an integrator could purchase?

A: No, but it is relatively simple to implement something technical like that and Matt is aware of patents for tokenization in the EV charging space. If we want to implement the tokenized payment method, we need to wait for someone to implement it.

Focused Discussion

Panelists were asked to share their top priorities for and expectations of public and private infrastructure. These priorities and expectations were later compiled into three lists: all chargers, public chargers only, and private chargers only, and are included in the CARB slides for this TRIG meeting.

Closing Remarks

Panelists were asked to think about topic(s) to address at the next Infrastructure TRIG meeting, and email Leslie.Goodbody@arb.ca.gov with suggestions.

Panel Members in Attendance

Analisa Bevan, CARB (Co-Chair)
Marc Perry, California Energy Commission (Co-Chair)
Damon Wyckoff, Calaveras County Water District
Lisa McGhee, Tom’s Truck Center
Greg Sarvas, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Frank Harris, California Municipal Utilities Association
Kent Leacock, Mainspring Energy
Joe Gagliano, Air Products
Reed Carter, Graniterock Construction
Aravind Kailas, Volvo Group North America
Matt Zerega, TerraVerde Energy
Audre Neuman, California Public Utilities Commission
Jimmy Andreoli, Baker Commodities
Zachery Artozqui, Knife River Construction
David Rothbart, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
Bascomb Grecian, Fuel Distribution/Energy Marketer
Chris Shimoda, California Trucking Association
Erick Karlen, Pacific Gas & Electric
Sam Vercellotti, Terawatt Infrastructure